Shooting Star 4: Downtime
by NightfireThePegasus
Summary: Okay so this is the fourth installment this one will be pure romance fluff and family to take a break from the storyline set up in book three so please enjoy
1. Chapter 1

Rocket awoke to find Peter packing some bags and looked on quizzically at his husband.

"Uh, Pete... What the flark are you packing our bags for?" Rocket said as he rubbed his eyes.

"Oh... This... Well you see Rocket..." Peter began.

"The crew and us decided you need a long vacation away from being a Guardian time to remember the simple and important things in life and just relax." Orion finished for Peter as he walked in with his own bags.

"But... Fine whatever I am obviously not going to win this argument so I will go along." Rocket said in defeat.

Rocket then took time to notice his son had brought in luggage of his own.

"Why the flark are you packing your bags Son?" Rocket asked gesturing to his son's bags. Orion smiled knowingly at Peter who flashed the same smile back before turning to Rocket as to respond.

"Well I know you don't really want to leave me somewhere where you can't get to me quickly in an emergency so I arranged to stay nearby you two while you guys spend some time off. That way you can enjoy your downtime, and still have me close by." Orion explained. Rocket had to admit his son had this very well thought out and he did appreciate his son thinking of him like that.

The family continued to pack, although they had been derailed by a few hijinks and distractions every once and a while. Once they had finally finished they all sat down on the bed and relaxed for a bit.

"So anyone have any idea where Gamora is dropping us off this time?" Rocket asked Peter and Orion. Peter simply shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine..." Orion replied. With the the three of them grabbed their luggage and made their way to the exit of the Milano eager to see what Gamora had planned this time.

As they got to the hatch they saw Gamora waiting for them a faint ghost of a smile traced her face but it was barely noticeable to the untrained eye.

"Ready to go you three?" Gamora asked.

"Yeah we're all set." Peter answered. Gamora nodded and opened the hatch.

"Where are we being dropped this time Gamora?" Rocket asked trying to seem gruff and grumpy as always when in fact he was actually very interested in knowing where he would be stuck spending a while in to relax. Gamora simply gestured for them to exit the ship, as they did so they took a look around and Peter scanned the area.

"Well we are on earth again that much is certain." Peter said.

"Yeah but where on earth?" Rocket said, he looked around and saw a beach with a nice ocean view on one side but the moment he looked to the other he saw a bustling city. Across the water Rocket could see yet another Island that had another city on it. All the while Orion was just staring in awe at it all. Orion had never been to earth before but had heard about it from his parents. As Peter finished scanning the area he put the device in his pocket and turned it off.

"According to the readings we are on a series of tropical islands known as Hawaii... Apparently it is a very popular vacation spot for people who want to relax and unwind." Peter explained. Rocket mentally sighed he knew Gamora would pick something like this for a relaxing spot.

"So I guess we should get this vacation trip of our's on the road. Since we are already here why not spend the day at the beach?" Rocket suggested. Orion and Peter both nodded their agreement and the three made their way down the beach and closer to the ocean. Once there Peter and Orion were immediately in the water, Rocket opted to stay on land next to the luggage with the excuse of not wanting to get him implants wet.

Rocket watched as the hours passed by enjoying seeing his son and husband playing in the water sometimes Orion would splash water and Peter's face and Peter would retaliate and things would then escalate into a full on water fight. Eventually Orion and Peter made their way out of the water and began drying off.

"Have fun you two?" Rocket asked as he stood up and dusted the sand off his clothes.

"Yeah dad you should have joined us." Orion said.

"Yeah yeah maybe next time son now let's go we need to find a hotel to stay in for the next couple weeks." Rocket said picking up his bags and walking back up the beach before making his way into the city with Orion and Peter in tow to find a place to stay.

(Okay I realize this is short but that seems to always be the case with my intro chapters anyway this fourth installment will be purely romance and family fluff hope you enjoy.)


	2. Chapter 2

As Rocket and his family made their way through the city he noticed it was a lot more peaceful and serene here than any other place he had been to on earth. The buildings were much smaller than when they visited new york and the streets were less of a hustle and bustle people overall seemed to take their time here a bit more and just relax. Rocket looked over at Orion and noticed his son seemed fascinated with all the sights, this caused Rocket to chuckle at his son's childlike wonder at the world around him.

"What's so funny dad?" Orion asked a he furrowed his brows.

"Nothing son, just, I love how intrigued you seem by everything." Rocket explained.

After another couple minutes of walking the group found a hotel to stay at and walked in. Peter approached the counter and asked for two rooms one for him and Rocket and a seperate one for Orion. Once the man at the counter had entered Peter's name into the computer he walked into the back and came back minutes later with three room keys. Peter thanked the man as he grabbed them handing one to Orion and sending his son on his way. Peter then handed Rocket his key and the couple made their way to their room.

As Rocket and Peter walked inside their room they immediately noticed a few differences compared to the hotel they stayed at in Paris last time they were on earth. First the theme of the room was much more tropical or beachy and the bedframe was styled to look like bamboo and there was a small tropical plant in the corner of the central room next to the balcony entrance. There was also a nice tannish wood ceiling fan.

"Hmm... Interesting decor. I think I could actually get used to this." Rocket mused aloud to himself.

"Yeah, hey let's go check out the view from the balcony." Peter suggested and before waiting for Rocket's reply was already making his way across the room to open the balcony door.

Rocket sighed at his husband's eagerness and followed behind him to the balcony. As Rocket got out onto the balcony he saw a perfect view of the beach they were just on and could see for miles across to the next adjacent island and Rocket had to admit the view was lovely. Peter meanwhile wasn't looking at the view his eyes were trained on Rocket. Peter was noticing how the sunlight was showing on Rocket's fur and gleaming off the metal accents on his uniform. Rocket noticed that Peter hadn't said anything about the view yet so he turned to see what his husband was so preoccupied with.

This however gave Peter an even bigger reason to stare as now he could see his husband's face as well as the eyes he loved so much.

"Peter what the flark are you staring at? Do I have something on my face or something?" Rocket asked as he snapped Peter out of his thoughts. As Rocket's words clicked and registered in Peter's head he shook his head.

"Sorry Rocket I just couldn't look away from the most beautiful thing on this island..." Peter said allowing his inner romantic sappy side to flow out with his words. Rocket rolled his eyes at Peter's mushy talk and simply walked back inside and jumped on the bed and layed his head on the pillow. Rocket soon felt the weight of the bed underneath him signalling Peter joined him.

"So we still have to unpack and settle in... After that we should figure out dinner I guess." Rocket said as he rolled over on his side to face Peter.

"Hmmm yeah so after we lay here... And I kiss you to death... We unpack then go meet up with Orion to find somewhere to eat?" Peter said in-between kissing Rocket's lips gently. Rocket was enjoying this moment, he had forgotten how good this felt. Rocket leaned in to kiss Peter before pulling back.

"Sounds like a plan now get up and unload your stuff you lazy flarker." Rocket said as he rolled out of bed and grabbed his bag beginning to unpack. After a few mishaps and Rocket pointing his blaster to Peter's head a few times at some of Peter's clothing choices he packed for Rocket the couple finally finished unpacking and made their way to Orion's room.

Orion opened the door as his parents knocked. Orion came out wearing a nice light fabric red button-up shirt with the collar flattened down with tan cargo pants.

"Guys... You have been holding out on me earth is awesome!" Orion exclaimed with childlike excitement and energy. This got Rocket and Peter to share a look of amusement. Orion gave them a look and they both wiped the looks off their face and went to just complacent smiles.

"Anyways let's go get some dinner I am starving and if I know my dad... And I do he probably wants to try some of the food from this area." Orion said, and with a bit of a laugh between him and Peter at the jab made at Rocket's expense the family made their way out of the hotel and back into the city.

(Okay I apologize this chapter is almost as short as chapter 1 but honestly for me the longer a chapter stretches on the more my quality slips as I slowly start to lose my inspiration and train of thought and I highly believe that it is better if the chapter is shorter and higher quality than having a longer but crappier near the end chapter so bear with me I will try to get longer chapters out I promise but for now I believe in Quality over length hope you all understand and keep reading anyway.

Thanks,  
>Nightfire)<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

"Man I am stuffed..." Rocket said holding his stomach as he leaned back in his chair.

"Those are words I never expected to hear you say Rocket." Peter joked earning him a halfhearted scowl from Rocket. The waiter came by and placed the check on the table and left to tend to other customers. Rocket and Peter both reached for the check and smirked.

"Let me take this one..." Peter said with a grin.

"Not on your flarking life Pete I'm taking it after all I ate the most so I am responsible for most of it." Rocket argued. As the couple argued over who should pay the bill Orion decided to put down the money himself effectively shutting his parents up.

"Orion you didn't have to pay..." Peter and Rocket said in unison, Orion simply gave them both a skeptical look.

"Oh really? Then tell me, exactly how long would you two have sat here arguing over who would pay if I hadn't stepped in." Peter opened his mouth to retort but quickly shut it. This all but confirmed Orion's statement and so Orion nodded.

"Yeah... Thought so." Once the waiter had come by and picked up the bill Rocket and the others made their way out of the restaurant and back into the city. Rocket pulled out a map of the area and Orion and Peter stood behind him so they could look at it as well.

"So where to next guys?" Orion asked as he looked at the map.

"Hmmmm we could go shopping and have fun making your dad try on some stuff." Peter suggested with a sly grin. This earned him a death glare from Rocket that to most would feel like two Daggers piercing into them but only caused Peter's smile to widen.

"What's the matter Rocket?" Peter said in a sarcastically worried tone that was meant to egg things on. Rocket let loose an only half joking growl.

"You know flarking well what is the matter Quill..." Rocket almost snarled. Peter quickly laid off of Rocket about the whole clothing thing. Once Rocket seemed to relax a bit again they resumed their mission of finding the next stop of the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time jump line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There were a lot of things, Rocket thought to himself, that he would do for Peter and Orion. However Rocket never in a million years pictured himself being dumb enough to be sitting on a wooden board in the middle of the water.

"So how did I get out here in the first place?" Rocket finished his thoughts aloud as he sat on a surfboard more or less against his will next to Peter and Orion who were on their own.

"Because you love us and we asked you to?" Peter asked with a sly smile. Rocket scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"You mean you two wouldn't shut up until I came out here..." He grumbled.

"Different method same result!" Orion chimed in. Before Rocket could manage a reply they noticed another wave coming up and prepared themselves and their boards for it. As he wave made it's way under their boards they slowly got to a standing position and rode their boards towards the shore. Rocket was a little tense and tentative at first but slowly came to relax and even if he wouldn't admit it to anyone actually began to enjoy it. Unfortunately as Rocket was swept up into the moment as he rode the wave he neglected to stop properly and the front end of his board nosedived into the beach and sent him flying into the sand. Rocket sat up as he spit out a mouthful of sand.

"That's why you watch where you're going Dad." Orion chuckled as he approached his father. Rocket finished getting to his feet and dusted himself off before unlodging his board from the sand.

"Ha, ha very funny where's your pa?" Rocket asked with a quizzical look.

"Right here!" Peter said as he walked up behind the two. Once they brought their boards back to the rental shop they made their way back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel Peter and Rocket got busy changing out of their beach clothes and into more casual attire before picking Orion up and going out for dinner.

"So... Having fun yet?" Peter decided to ask to break the silence in the room. Rocket came out of the bathroom rubbing a towel through the fur on his head.

"Yeah, I mean I may act a bit of a kill joy but it's still quality time with my husband and my son so of course I am having fun." Rocket said with a slight smile. Ever since Norion started making appearences Rocket had slowly devolved back into his old self that took Peter eons to break him out of and reveal the real sweet Rocket he married.

This is not to say Rocket was ever really rude or anything of the sort like he used to be but he was always a litle stricter and serious lately. Peter could fully understand why Rocket was getting more gruff again after all it isn't everyday that some clone of your son tries to almost kill your son and husband so he had cut Rocket a lot more slack as had the others as they all could more or less understand what Rocket was feeling. Drax especially only more so than Rocket because unlike Rocket Drax had actually had his wife and child killed in front of him. Drax however had been very sympathetic to Rocket these past couple months.

"So you ready to go?" Rocket said, his voice breaking Peter from his thoughts.

"Hmmm, what?" Peter said as he shook off his daze. Rocket sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I said... You ready to go get Orion?" Rocket repeated.

"Oh... Uh yeah let's get going." Peter said as he tried to recover from that little slip up. Rocket was concerened about what had Peter distracted but decided it could wait so he just led Peter out the door of their room and they made their way to Orion's hotel room.

-Meanwhile-

"How do you suppose the three of them are doing down there?" Drax asked Gamora as he was once again sharpening his swords.

"Knowing them like I do... Peter is doing something to embarass Rocket... Rocket is threatening to shoot something and Orion is egging them on." Gamora said with a deadpan look as she continued some maintenance on the Milano.

"And what of this Norion person?" Drax inquired. Gamora then developed a more solemn face as she turned back to face Drax.

"I don't know Drax... I just hope when he returns that we are ready..." Was her only reply and with that silence once again fell on the Milano.

-Anoher scene jump line look how pretty it is-

Rocket looked down at his chest where an orange floral necklace type thing was hanging around his neck. Apparently it's part of the culture here to wear them. Rocket looked over to Peter and Orion who just finished their meal and had similar necklaces adorning them, Orion's was a deep red and Peter's was blue-green which broke the color trend set between Rocket and Orion's. The place they ate at also had live entertainment currently there were some fire dancers which Rocket found surprisingly intriguing to watch how the men twirled the staff-like sticks around with fire burning on either end. Once the show had ended they thanked the waitress and the performers and made their way back to the hotel.

Once back in their room Rocket took his necklace off and placed it neatly on the nightstand. Once he got in bed and looked at Peter he was instanty reminded of his feeling Peter was hiding something from him that he had earlier when Peter was obviously distracted.

"Pete..." Rocket said. This got Peter's attention and got him to turn and face Rocket.

"Yes Rocket?" Peter replied.

"What had you so distracted earlier?" Rocket asked as he wrung his hands nervously.

Inwardly Rocket knew what Peter was worried about but he felt he needed confirmation before trying to reassure Peter that everything was fine.

"Just thinking about stuff." Was Peter's reply. Peter could tell by the look on his husband's face that his answer was not satisfying him nor was it fooling him causing him to sigh.

"Look Rocket I just... Ever since Norion came into the picture you haven't been the same... I know you want us safe, but I miss that more fun loving gentler side of you that I married... I'm not sure I like the much mor strict and serious Rocket you are being lately." Peter said. Rocket was proccessing what Peter just said.

Honestly Rocket wasn't surprised he knew that was probably what had Peter concerned and this was actually what he was prepared to reply to.

"Pete... I know I have seemed a little harsh lately I don't mean to be but like you said I just want my family safe... I know I need to relax more if not for our sake then for Orion's I mean there is no need to stress our son out more than he already is... That's why I agreed to this trip in the first place to try and get away from al of that and rekindle the feelings that got us where we are now." Rocket finished as he leaned up to kiss Peter passionately. Peter reciprocated the kiss but notbefore turning off the lights in their room and holding Rocket close before they drifted off to sleep in each other's arms. Unknown to the both of them Orion was listening through the door the entire time and wa now smiling like a crazy person.

"Yes! Plan: get my parents to remember their love for eachother is so far a sucess." Orion exclaimed to himself in a whisper before sneaking back off to his room to get some sleep himself.

(Okay so I tried a new method to make my normally shorter chapters a bit longer... I basically wrote a few of my shorter chapters separately then used linebreaks/timejumps to link them together into a longer chapter if you guys like this new method let me know and I will start using this more often)


	4. Chapter 4

Peter busied himself while Rocket was still fast asleep and ordered some room service for a nice breakfast in bed for Rocket and had gotten Rocket's favorite. Peter was definitely feeling renewed hope after the previous night. He felt it was progress to get Rocket to talk about their feelings again. Peter went in to the bathroom and combed his hair to fix his bedhead before walking back in the room and looking down with a fond smile at Rocket sleeping. Peter thought the sight of Rocket curled up on himself while he slept was just adorable and he smiled even wider when he saw Rocket's muzzle twitch involuntarily as his whiskers were brushed by the fabric if the sheets followed by a light snore.

As the hotel staff member arrived with the food Peter took the food thanked the man and closed the door. While Peter was setting up the food on a tray on the bed he could she Rocket's nose twitch signalling his husband already caught the faint aroma of the food and was beginning to wake. Peter silently hurried to finish the set up before Rocket completey came to.

"Mhhhh those wouldn't be what I think they are would they Pete?" Rocket mumbled as he sat up and saw the tray over his lap. Peter returned to the bed with his own tray of food as well as a cup of coffee each for him and Rocket.

Rocket leaned up to plant a kiss on Peter's lips that was chastely short yet still passionate before pulling away and smiling. Grabbing Peter's hand in his paw he looked dead in Peter's eyes before speaking.

"Thanks Pete... For everything..." Rocket replied simply before digging into his breakfast. Peter with renewed vigor dug in as well and the pair ate in companionable silence. Rocket occasionally leaned against Peter affectionately which caused Peter to smile contently.

To the surprise of Rocket Peter was the first one finished with his breakfast. _'Then again'_, Rocket thought, '_I was eating much slower today as if I didn't want this to end...' _This thought brought a warm happy look to Rocket's face one that he hadn't worn often if at all as of late and the look caused Peter to gain interest.

"What's got you so happy?" Peter simply said as he gathered the dishes and put them back on the tray to be taken out of the room.

"You..." Was Rocket's only reply. This prompted Peter to pick Rocket up and hold him close and for once Rocket didn't object to being held like this.

The couple sat there undisturbed for a good hour until they heard a knock on the door. Rocket broke free from Peter's grip with a bit of a deflated look. Rocket then turned towards the door.

"Come in." He responded. The door opened and Orion came bounding and bouncing in cheerfully. Rocket had to admit he never has seen Orion so cheery in his life.

"Ready for our next day on these beautiful islands guys?" Orion asked cheerfully.

"What's on the schedule for today?" Peter asked.

"We were going diving in the ocean today to see some of the marine life that lives in the water below remember..." Orion reminded.

"Oh joy..." Rocket grumbled as going for a swim wasn't exactly on his list of things he wanted to do.

"Don't worry dad! I got just the thing for you. Come to my room and see... I worked all night on it." Orion said as he made his way back into the hall and down the way to his room.

Peter and Rocket made their way into Orion's room and were stunned at what they saw. It looked to be a smaller version of the same pod type vehicles that Rocket and Peter used in Knowhere against Ronan's goons. It had been obviously modified and outfitted to be used for subaquatic maneuvering and navigation and was equipped with external bio scanners and other useful research tools. Rocket impressed at how much his son got done in one night and immediately made his way into the cockpit to get a feel for the controls.

"This is amazing Orion... I am impressed with this for an overnight creation." Rocket said as he finished inspecting the makeshift submarine.

"Just one question..." Rocket added. This caused Orion to partially deflate worried what his father was going to say.

"And what is that dad?" Orion prompted for Rocket to continue.

"How are we transporting this thing to the beach?" Rocket asked gesturing to the sheer size and weight of the sub. Orion somewhat chuckled at this and pulled out a wristband with buttons on it.

Pressing one caused the Sub to slowly breakdown into smaller pieces until it was the size of a small sphere about the same size as the container of the infinity stone.

"Hmmmm... Compression mechanics.I am now thoroughly impressed son." Rocket nodded his approval as he held and inspected the orb that was once his sub. Rocket handed Peter the orb to put in his bag to carry to the beach. Peter looked at it fascinated with his son's handy work he had no doubt in his mind that he got his tech skills from Rocket.

"So we have everything right? Then lets get going." Peter spoke up before leading the other two out the door and making their way off to the beach.

-Line Break time again-

Orion and Peter put on their diving gear and got in the water. Rocket walked up behind them placing the orb in the area where the tide reaches the sand and pressed the button on his wristband and the orb once again became the submarine. Rocket boarded the sub and with some slight help pushing off the shore from Orion and Peter was steadily submerging into the ocean. Once Rocket's nerves calmed down and he remembered he was safely inside his sub he began to take a real look at the new world around him. Many different species of fish and other aquatic life swam by the viewing window of the sub and Rocket managed to scan a few and save the data in the sub's computer for further analysis and research.

Not long after he was joined by Orion and Peter who each gave Rocket a look asking how he was holding up. Rocket gave a thumbs up before propelling his ship further into the ocean. Rocket was stopped in awe as he saw a big almost flat creature with elongated tusk like apendages where it's eyes sat swam by. The way it swam in the water with it's fins flapping in the water looked almost as if it were flying instead of swimming and it was doing so with such grace as it executed a few backflips here and there as well. Rocket immediately scanned the creature as he was eager to know what it was. Upon completion of the scan it told Rocket the creature was called a manta ray, it also listed a whole log of data on it that Rocket had saved to be viewed later when he had time after the dive.

As Rocket reached the ocean floor he noticed what looked to be a fish but it was much larger than any other fish he had seen up to this point. The creature was Greyish in color and had two fins protruding from it's back. It also had rows of sharp teeth. After scanning it Rocket learned that the creature was a species of sharks called a white tip reef shark. The most interesting and equally disturbing fact Rocket learned was that though this was much bigger than the other fish he had encountered, save for the manta ray, there were many species of sharks that far exceeded this species in size. That thought alone had Rocket decide to regroup with Orion and Peter at the surface.

Once back on land Rocket unboarded his sub and reverted it to it's orb state before returning it to Peter.

"So how did everyone enjoy that little trip?" Peter asked as he stuffed the Orb into his pocket.

"I had so much fun!" Orion exclaimed as he dried off.

"Well I have a lot of work cut out for me now researching these creatures I discovered which in my definition is fun so... Yeah I had fun." Rocket said as he began making his way up the beach back to the hotel. Orion and Peter simply shrugged and followed Rocket.

-Another time jump line-

Rocket had been sitting at a desk in the hotel room since he had gotten back to the hotel room. Peter had to admit though he loved Rocket taking an interest in an aspect of the trip he felt Rocket was getting a bit too sucked into his work.

"Peter take a look at this! Turns out those backflips that manta rays do aren't just for fun but in fact actually is how they feed." Rocket said seeming very intrigued in what he was learning. Peter sighed came over and shut Rocket's datapad down and placed Rocket in bed.

"Rocket it is nearly one in the morning let's get some sleep that data will be there for you to analyze later it isn't going anywhere." Rocket sighed in defeat and settled for snuggling up under the covers into Peter's bare chest and let the grasp of sleep take hold.

(Okay so I have been debating whether to continue this or not. I will say this chapter more or less gave me some faith in continuing the story but I will let the readerbase speak for itself because I started with a whole ton of readers but here we are at book four and most of them have either stopped reading or bothering to show a clue that they are still following it and that puts a damper on my desire to continue.

We will see where this goes...

Until next time,

Nightfire)


	5. Author's Note

Okay as I have previously stated I don't normally respond to comments sent to me in Authors notes however I make a special exception when a guest user provides a comment I feel deserves a reply and this is one of those times... This review comes from PRocketFan, he says:

"You are really good at creating the personalities that go with the characters, it feels that I'm watching a movie with each story and chapter you post."

First off I want to thank you for the review it is a huge help in my desire to keep writing when I hear from my readers. Secondly I would like to thank you for saying you can actually picture my stories and the scenes in them playing out like a movie in your head that is always my job however I always felt like my characters were a tad bit OOC (Out of Character) and weren't reflecting the personalities the comic or the movie set them with even though I did try my best to justify the changes in their personality but overall I am glad the changes to their personalities didn't ruin the story for you.

Lastly I would just like to again thank you as well as all my valued readers for your continued support of this series.

With that I will sign off.

Sincerely until next time,

Nightfire


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